Greener future for Chatsworth House

Derbyshire’s leading stately home is set to take a pioneering step to a greener future, the Mercury can reveal.

Chatsworth House is to become one of the first stately homes in the UK to install a biomass generator – which will reduce the estate’s carbon footprint significantly.

While an exact launch date has not yet been confirmed, a Chatsworth spokesperson said that the estate hoped to have the project ready by the summer.

“The idea is that a biomass boiler will provide heat and energy for the whole house – possibly the whole estate,” the spokesperson said.

“As it will provide almost all of the energy the house needs it will dramatically reduce Chatsworth’s carbon footprint and energy costs.”

Biomass fuel consists of recently living organic material such as wood, leaves, paper, food waste manure and other items usually considered garbage.

Biomass fuel sources burn cleaner than fossil fuels – that is, they emit less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases – and do not pose the environmental risk of nuclear energy.

Unlike fossil fuels, the carbon emitted from biomass energy does not upset the atmospheric balance because it has not left the carbon cycle – a process whereby plants take carbon dioxide from the air during photosynthesis and store it in their living tissue. When they are burned the carbon dioxide is released back into the environment.

Chatsworth Estate were originally planning to launch their new biomass generator later this month, but due to unforeseen circumstances the launch has been pushed back.

The estate now hopes to reveal its new biomass generator in June.

“When the new generator is launched we will make sure there is a big celebration as this really is something to be proud of,” said the spokesperson.

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